Day 2: Tekashi 69 Testifies About Alleged Kidnapping, Shootings Involving Chief Keef & Casanova, and More

Day 2 of testimony from Tekashi 6ix9ine resumed Wednesday, as tensions continued to thicken in a Manhattan federal courtroom. 

Tekashi69, born Daniel Hernandez, took the stand to testify against his former crew, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. On trial were two of his former buddies including Anthony Ellison, an alleged high-ranking member of the NineTrey gang who once worked as 6ix9ine’s bodyguard.

According to the New York Times, cooperating star witness 6ix9ine sketched out Nine Trey’s hierarchy in detail in court, listing its leadership by name. 

He reportedly took his time translating street slang for the jury and even described several of the gang’s attacks at length, including one instance in which they stalked and assaulted another rapper, Trippie Redd.

According to TMZ, Tekashi also detailed the Times Square shooting involving Chief Keef. 6ix9ine reportedly admitted to arranging the hit and promised $20k to the gunman, although he reduced the payment by $10k after he found out the hitman only fired one shot and missed his mark.

TMZ reports that he also detailed the incident from July 2018, when he was jumped and kidnapped while sitting in a vehicle. Attorneys played the dashcam footage from the incident and disclosed his former bodyguard, Harv, was a part of the plan to rob him.

As for the Barclays Center shooting, Tekashi said he and his crew arrived to attend Adrien Broner’s boxing match. While walking through a tunnel under the arena, they came face-to-face with members of rival rapper Casanova’s crew. A fight broke out, and Tekashi claims that his manager, Shotti then instructed a Nine Trey gang member to open fire at the rival crew, he did, but no one was shot.

Hernandez also told the court about how his relationship with Nine Treys started to fall apart. He explained that it all started when he was scheduled to perform at a gig in Austin, TX but didn’t “check-in” with the bigwigs at Rap-A-Lot Records, as they claim Texas as their home turf. The Rap-A-Lot crew allegedly refused to let him enter the building, which cost him a lot of money and apparently started a war. 

The rapper shared that when Rap-A-Lot Records’ J. Prince was in NYC the following month, the Nine Trey members decided it was time to get revenge. 6ix9ine’s manager, Shotti and other gang members pulled an armed robbery on the Rap-A-Lot crew in the lobby of a building while Tekashi sat outside in a parked car and filmed it. The prosecutors played the video in court, along with surveillance video of the incident.

6ix9ine said as they fled the scene in a car, Shotti got nervous and kicked him out of the car, leaving 6ix9ine to take the subway all the way to Brooklyn while carrying a gun in his hoodie.

The rapper’s decision to snitch on his former associates prompted celebrities to take to social media to out him. On Wednesday, rapper #MeekMill tweeted that 6ix9ine was an “Internet gangsta.” #SnoopDogg even called him a “rat,” and #DesusNice from Desus & Mero fame tweeted that “tekashi 69 basically reading the dmx challenge in that courtroom.”